


An Educational Outing

by 27dragons



Series: 27dragons' Tony Stark Bingo [23]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Field Trip, M/M, Magical Artifacts, Pre-Relationship, STAND BACK WE'RE GOING TO TRY SCIENCE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22500994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27dragons/pseuds/27dragons
Summary: In which Professor Stark takes his Muggle Studies students on a field trip, with Professor Barnes’ help, and it does not go quite as planned.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: 27dragons' Tony Stark Bingo [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1270892
Comments: 36
Kudos: 324
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	An Educational Outing

**Author's Note:**

> A fill for the 2020 Tony Stark Bingo!  
>  Title: An Educational Outing  
>  Creator Name: @27dragons  
>  Card Number: 3033  
>  Square Filled: K2 - AU: Hogwarts  
>  Rating: G  
>  Warnings: None  
>  Ship/Main Pairing: Bucky/Tony (pre-relationship)  
>  Major Tags: AU: Hogwarts, field trip, magical artifacts, stand back we’re going to try science, pre-relationship

Tony looked over his charges with a critical eye. “Mr. Leeds, if I see your wand out again, I will take it away,” he threatened. “Mr. Keener, where’s your jacket?”

“Don’t need it. I’ve got a warming charm, see?”

“I see that the Muggles’ attention will be drawn by someone wearing short sleeves in the snow,” Tony shot back. “Put the jacket on, with or without the charm.”

“Don’t see why we have to go look at _Muggle_ things anyway,” Harley groused, pulling a somewhat battered sweater from his bag and shoving one arm into it.

“You may stay behind if you prefer,” Tony said mildly. “In which case when the rest of us return, I’ll expect a three-foot long essay on what you feel is the most significant Muggle advancement of the last twenty years, with examples to back up your claim. And sources.” He suppressed a smile as a collective groan rippled through the class.

He led them into the Great Hall. “Too many of us for a single portkey, so I hope my arrangements were-- Ah, excellent. Professor Barnes, good of you to join us.”

Behind Tony, the class shuffled and shifted uneasily. Barnes had only joined the staff this year, and the rumors and whispers were still thick on the ground, unease over his former allegiance to the Dark cabal, Hydra.

Tony had entertained more than a little uncertainty on that score, himself, but after hearing the whole story, he’d laid those fears to rest. But it wasn’t his place to share another professor’s personal life and details with the students, and Barnes seemed neither inclined to share nor overly disturbed by the muttering and sidelong looks.

“Professor Stark,” he returned with one of those barely-there smiles.

“All right, kids,” Tony said, clapping his hands briskly. “Ravenclaws and Slytherins, with me; Gryffindor and Hufflepuffs over there with Professor Barnes. We’re all going to the same place,” he added before anyone could raise a voice in complaint. “Let’s go, now.” He made a shooing motion toward the scrap of blown-out tire waiting at the end of the Ravenclaw table. On the Hufflepuff table was a crumpled old newspaper.

Tony waited until all the students had a hand on the rubber. “All ready? Here we go, three, two, one--” He touched it right in the middle and fixed his eyes right where he was touching to avoid the sickly spinning sensation of an activated portkey.

They were just lurching away when he heard Ned say, “These things always make me puke.”

Why had he thought it would be a good idea to take a bunch of teenaged wizards to a Muggle museum, again?

* * *

It was Peter who set the whole thing off, because of course it was.

“Why?” Tony demanded as he furiously built an illusion over the doorway into the room, weaving in a Confundus charm to keep the Muggles from stumbling into the gaping maw of a vortex that was swirling in the center of the room. “For Merlin’s sake, Parker, you _know better_ than to go around just reading random incantations that you see lying around!”

“I didn’t-- We’re in a _muggle museum_ ,” Peter protested. “There’s not supposed to be anything magical in here!”

“Kid’s got a point,” Barnes said, in between his attempts to contain the... whatever it was. So far he’d managed to keep it away from Tony and the students, but he hadn’t managed to dispel it, yet.

“He doesn’t need your excuses,” Tony grumbled. Muggle barrier complete, he turned to survey the vortex. It was somewhat bigger around than Tony’s outstretched arms, with no visible destination on the other side, and was filled with a swirling mist that seemed not only to be colorless itself but to be leaching all the color from its surroundings, as well. As Tony watched, it slid across the floor like a puddle of water, moving toward a cluster of students.

“Feel free to help, any time,” Barnes said acidly, throwing out a containment hex.

Tony unhooked the velvet rope blocking museum visitors from getting too close to the art and leaned over, carefully feeding one end into the maelstrom.

“What the fu-- izzing Whizzbees are you doing?”

“Seeing if it’s benign,” Tony said calmly. He pulled the rope back out. The brass hook was twisted and misshapen, as if it had started to melt and then pushed hurriedly back into shape. The velvet was shredded, the edges charred, and its previously rich deep red color had faded to a sickly grey. So not benign, then.

“You think I don’t know Dark magic when I see it?” Barnes growled.

“I think if you knew what this particular Dark magic _did_ , you’d already have destroyed it.” Tony sidled around the edge of the vortex until he stood opposite Barnes. “Any idea what its searching for?”

“I’ve been a little busy for in-depth analysis.” Barnes threw another hex, scattering sparks where it met the marble floor.

Interestingly, the vortex slid _toward_ the sparks rather than away from them. “Do that again,” Tony said.

Barnes shot him a dark look, but threw out the hex again.

The vortex was definitely moving toward the sparks.

Tony glanced around the room, pointed. “It came out of this case, right, Mr. Parker?”

“Yes, Professor Stark.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Tony tucked his wand into the pocket of his jeans (it had taken him three tries with an Extensible charm to get it to the right depth) and strode toward the case.

“Stark, what the he-- ocus Pocus Pops are you doing?”

“When we’re back at Hogwarts, we’re going to have a long talk about your sweets obsession,” Tony said. He reached into the case and lifted out a long, heavy crystal prism. “Stand back,” he announced. “I’m going to try science. Someone -- Ms. Jones, you’ve got a nice steady wand hand -- give me a _lumos_. Aim it right here.”

MJ’s burst of light hit the prism and burst into a bright rainbow on the wall. Tony tilted the prism, angling it down onto the floor, on the far side of the room from the students.

The vortex _lunged_ for it.

“SH-- SHERBERT LEMON!” Barnes bellowed.

“Wait!” Tony said before he could raise his wand.

As soon as the vortex reached it, the colors disappeared as if they’d never been, but Tony didn’t move the prism, watching closely. The vortex whirled and pulsed.

“You’re _feeding_ it,” Barnes warned.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “Trust me. Brighter, Ms. Jones!”

The furious swirl of the vortex slowed a little, and after several long minutes in which hardly anyone dared to even breathe, it... shrank. And then a little more.

It took nearly half an hour, but finally, the vortex closed in on itself and... stopped. Tony dropped the prism and walked over to toe it gently. Nothing. He picked up the large iron-looking coin that was left and held it up for everyone to see. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said into the hush, “make your acquaintance with a wraithcoin.”

Cautiously, he put it and the prism back into the case, fussing with the prism to be sure it would throw a rainbow across the coin when the display lights were on.

“We’re just leaving it here?” Harley asked, aghast.

“I’m certainly not foolish enough to take a wraithcoin back to school with us,” Tony said drily. “Once we’re away, I’ll send a report to the Muggle Relations Office and they’ll send someone to deal with it. Now, before someone actually notices that this section of the museum has disappeared, let’s put the room to rights, shall we?”

With the students helping, it only took a few minutes to clean off the scorch marks, repair the few shattered glass cases, and convince the surveillance cameras that the room had been empty for the last hour.

Eventually, Tony got the students back on track, herding them gently toward the next exhibit.

“That was some quick thinking back there, Stark,” Barnes said quietly as they followed the excited gaggle of teens. “I wouldn’t have looked for a Muggle solution.”

“Well, you were busy.” Tony glanced at his fellow professor sidelong, and added, “I think you could make it Tony.”

Barnes actually blushed a little, red crawling up the back of his neck. “If you’ll call me Bucky.”

Tony smiled. “With pleasure. Bucky. Do you think, once we’re back, we could-- _Ned Leeds, you put that back right this instant!_ ” He stretched his legs, stalking toward the giggling cluster of students, with a resigned air.

There would be time, later, to talk more with Bucky.


End file.
